"A…a Sith Lord? You were a Sith Lord. When were you a Sith Lord?" The shock and confusion were almost comical on Obi-Wan's face. Anakin could almost read his former master's thoughts.

'How the Kriff did I miss this? How did I screw up this badly?'

"I don't know, how far are we into the Clone Wars?"

"Eight months since Geonosis, why?" Obi-Wan replied, obviously confused.

"In about three years then, and then for another twenty four years after that," Anakin nodded.

"What?"

Anakin took pity on Obi-Wan, whose look of confusion had only become deeper, "I think I've time travelled," he explained, "one moment I was…dying, then I was dead, and then, all of a sudden, I'm back in my twenty year old body.

"And…you…you fell?"

Anakin nodded, looking down at his hands, which were both once again fisted around Obi-Wan's robes. He flexed his flesh hand…he still had a flesh hand…and flesh feet…and he could breathe.

"I fell," he admitted, avoiding Obi-Wan's penetrating gaze.

"And…the chancellor…"

"Was my master…" Anakin felt sick saying it. His stomach clenched, and acid burned in his throat but nothing came back up, so Anakin swallowed the urge to throw up back down, literally.

"Anakin…"

"I killed you" Anakin interrupted with a whisper, his eyes filling with tears as he remembered that day on the Death Star, the moment he cut Obi-Wan down.

"I…what?" Obi-Wan choked, his grip tightening on Anakin's shoulder. Anakin heaved in a breath and looked up, his eyes meeting Obi-Wan's once again

"I killed you…I killed the younglings…it was my fault that everyone died." Anakin sobbed at the end of the sentence and lowered his head. He didn't see Obi-Wan shuffling closer, but he felt Obi-Wan gently wrap his arms around Anakin in a hug.

"No, Listen to me, Anakin…it's not going to happen."

"For me…it already has."

"Well, it won't happen this time around, we'll make sure of it."

Anakin was silent, leaning against Obi-Wan's chest. Obi-Wan was warm, and soothing against the chill of space. The older man was also sending soothing waves through the bond the shared. When was the last time someone had been so close to him? Luke, on the death Star, while his son had been dragging him to the shuttle, but before that?

It would have been before Mustafar.

Anakin felt tears roll down his face as he remembered how Padme had felt when she used to hug him, during their secret nights together. He remembered how happy she'd been, hopeful about the future and already carrying so much love for their children.

He'd never known the truth about how she'd died. For 19 years all he'd known was the lie that Palpatine had told him, Anakin himself had been the one to murder his wife, and their child with her, but then he learned about Luke, and everything changed. If Luke had survived then Anakin, or rather, Vader couldn't possibly have killed her, or not directly anyway. In the years that had passed since that day Vader had become something of an expert on using force chokes, and after he'd learned about Luke Vader had spent a lot of time meditating back on that day, and although the memories were tainted with pain, hate, betrayal and an all-consuming anger, Vader had recalled the moment when he'd lashed out at Padme. Yes, he'd had in her a strangle hold, and yes, it had undoubtedly hurt her, but he hadn't broken her neck, nor her hyoid bone. Nor had he held the choke hold long enough to suffocate her to the point of death.

Despite knowing that he hadn't killed Padme, it hadn't eased Vader's guilt at all, nor did it ease Anakin's own guilt over everything he'd done since the moment he'd knelt before Palpatine in the Chancellors office, or even before that.

"Anakin…I'm right here, I'm not going anywhere."

Anakin opened his eyes, unaware that he'd even closed them, and realised that his fingers, both flesh and mechanical, were tightly gripping onto Obi-Wan's robes again. Anakin hastily released them and tried to focus on his flesh hand, rather than his memories. It had been so long since he'd had a flash hand. He smiled as she spotted the small burn scar from the first time he'd tried to make Obi-Wan a cup of tea one morning not long after Anakin became his Padawan.

"I'd…forgotten what having a flash hand is like," he admitted in a wheezing voice. Anakin blinked at the sound of his own voice, before he reminded himself to breathe.

"Did…did you lose that one too?"

"Yes…and both legs as well. There wasn't much of me left after that fight, between losing all four limbs...and the burns."

"Burns?"

"Mustafar…I didn't fall in the lava but…I was close enough to…to burn."

Obi-Wan's skin paled and his eyes widened in surprise, "Who…was it Palpatine?"

"No, he was the one who found me afterwards," Anakin replied before hesitating. The truth would hurt Obi-Wan, but Anakin was done lying.

"It was you," he offered quietly, sending waves of forgiveness through the bond as he spoke. How could he not forgive Obi-Wan, having returned to the light side of the force and having the veil of the dark side lifted from his eyes, like Luke finally removing his helmet with the kriffing red tinted lenses.

"Me…oh Force, Anakin, I'm so sorry."

"I'm not. You had the higher ground, I was stupid to even consider it…" Anakin shrugged, "Besides, limb prosthetics I can live with, it gave me a project to work on while I meditated over the years. The suit…that…that was…" Anakin shook his head at how torturous the suit had been. Torturous, but necessary.

"What suit, I wasn't aware the Sith had uniforms, was it black?"

Anakin couldn't help but roll his eyes. Oh, how he'd missed Obi-Wan and his quips.

"Of course. It was a full life support suit. After…after Mustafar I…I was more dead than alive. My lungs were all but destroyed, I couldn't breathe for very long without the suit. It…it was what got me, in the end…eventually. Palpatine's lightning took out the suit, and probably damaged what was left of my body too, but…but with the suit out of commission I was never going to make it. Death…death was more than I deserved, for what I did."

"That's why you're having trouble breathing…because you haven't consciously done it on your own for so long," Obi-Wan reasoned with wide, shocked eyes, his grip on Anakin tightening as if he could protect Anakin from living through that pain again. Anakin nodded in reply, and closed his eyes again as more tears trickled from his eyes. Tears…that was something else he hadn't been physically capable of since Mustafar.

"You've got to help me, Master," Anakin whispered, leaning his head a little more against Obi-Wan, letting the older man take a little more of Anakin's weight.

"Help you?"

"Help be stop Palpatine before he ruins everything. Save the Galaxy, Save the Jedi, Save the Senate, save everyone. For too long the dark side has held all the power, tainting everything it touches. We've got to bring balance back to the force, just like Qui-Gon said we would."

"I think that he was referring to the damned prophecy about you when he said that."

"I know what happens when I try and do everything myself Master…when I don't trust people. I can't do this alone. I need you to help me, Master."

"I will help you, Anakin, you know that. You shouldn't feel like you have to ask."

"Thank you" Anakin exhaled, feeling as though a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Last time around he'd fallen and everything had gone wrong. This time, with Obi-Wan helping him, things were going to end out better, Anakin was sure of it.

"If you don't mind me asking…why did you fall?" Obi-Wan's voice was quiet, uncertain. Anakin knew that Obi-Wan was doubting himself, maybe even blaming himself for not being a good enough teacher.

"Don't ever blame yourself for what I did," Anakin looked up at him master's face. He blinked in shock at the tears rolling down Obi-Wan's face. Obi-wan didn't cry, didn't show emotion.

"It wasn't your fault," Anakin told him, "it was mine. Palpatine…he's been working on me for years, since I was a child newly inducted to the Jedi order, feeding my doubts and fears, planting seeds for my resentment towards you and the order. Then…when the Clone Wars started, and things just escalated from there. Things happened which weakened my connections with others. You, Ahsoka, anyone within the order I was close to, I was left felling as though I couldn't trust anyone."

"You can trust me with anything, Anakin, you know that, or at least, I thought you did."

I knew I could trust you, Master, but…but there are some things that I've never felt I could talk to you about. Things I've done that…that are against the Jedi code. Things that I didn't want the council to know about because I knew I'd be removed from the order. At the same time I…I didn't want to put you in an awkward position between myself and the Council when I know they don't like me already."

"I wouldn't say they didn't like you." Obi-Wan offered carefully, although Anakin knew from the look on Obi-Wan's face that his former Master knew exactly what Anakin was talking about.

"Eventually I started having dreams again…dreams of someone I cared about dying. I…I couldn't cope with the idea of…of my dreams coming true again, and I knew that the Jedi couldn't help. Yoda told me I should rejoice in someone becoming one with the force, and let go of my attachments but…the way I was thinking at that point…I couldn't deal with that"

"So you went to Palpatine?"

Anakin nodded, "he told me about a Sith legend, a way that I could save the person I was…afraid to lose. By then the council suspected the chancellor, and sent most of the council to arrest him. I…I helped Palpatine defeat the Jedi, and then I knelt before him to become his apprentice."

"And…the one whose death you were trying to prevent?"

"Died anyway, and for most of my time as a Sith…I believed that I'd been the one to kill them in my anger."

"Oh, Anakin, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything. We…the Jedi, have failed you so much. I wish that you hadn't had to go through what you have…the pain of having someone you care about die…the isolation…the suffering."

"Obi-Wan, I…"

"You're my brother, Anakin. I've always loved you as my brother, despite our disagreements over the years. I would do anything for you…to protect you. I would not share your secrets with the COucnil, not if you did not want me too."

Anakin was stunned into silence, gazing up at Obi-Wan in shock. How many times had he questioned if his attachment with Obi-Wan was one way, or what was normal between a Master and Padawan, or former Padawan. He'd had glimpses over the years when he'd been working alongside other Jedi, especially during the Clone Wars, glimpses that implied that Obi-Wan's attachment was perhaps a little stronger than normal.

A memory came back to him, a memory that was stained with the worst pain Anakin had felt in his entire life…burning pain, accompanied with the excruciating sting of perceived betrayal.

"You were the Chosen One! It was said that you would destroy the Sith, not join them. Bring balance to the force, not leave it in darkness…You were my brother, Anakin! I loved you."

Anakin heaved in a breath, still relishing in how good it felt to breathe independently.

"The…the person I was trying to save…it was Padme. We're married."

Obi-Wan's eyes widened momentarily in shock before he let out a chuckle, although Anakin felt the waves of reassurance his master was sending him through their bond.

"I knew that something was going on…you aren't as sneaky as you would like to think but…married? I wasn't expecting that. Since when?"

"Just after Geonosis, when I escorted her back to Naboo."

"I suppose I should congratulate you. I'm afraid I don't have any good advice to give you on how to be a good husband."

Anakin felt his cheeks colour rapidly, and Obi-Wan laughed at Anakin's obvious embarrassment.

"Especially in that department."

"Obi-Wan" Anakin groaned at Obi-Wan's teasing, hiding his still red face in his master's robe like a small child.

"We'll find a way to save her, Anakin. I'm sure that together we'll think of something."

Anakin nodded and rested his head against Obi-Wan's chest, suddenly feeling drained. Obi-Wan gently ran his fingers through Anakin's hair, and Anakin was reminded of his early years at the temple, when Obi-Wan used to sooth him like this after Anakin had a nightmare. It was soothing then, and it worked in much the same way now. Anakin fought against the urge to sleep, even as his eyelids begun to get heavy.

"Rest, Anakin, you will need it. We will need the support of the council to bring down the Chancellor, and I know that you don't want to tell them everything, you are going to have to reveal some things."

"I know," Anakin admitted, already thinking about what he was going to say, "I just hope that they believe me."